A/N: Hey everyone! Hope you guys liked the last chapter. Hermione and Draco are safe for now, but do you think Voldemort will stop there only? Read the A/N at the end to find out when the next chapter will be out. On with the chapter! 

Once Seamus had apparated Luna with him, Pansy and Theo rushed towards the living room, but the wizard gasped as he saw who was fighting there with the Order members.

Theodore Nott Sr.

His father. 

The brown haired wizard couldn't believe what he was seeing. His father? What was his father doing here?

The last he had heard of him, from Lucius Malfoy, was that his father had left to some other continent. Even when Voldemort had called all of his followers to the Malfoy Manor after the Battle of Hogwarts had ended, Theodore Nott Sr. had not been present there. 

Where had his father been all these months?

And moreover, wherever he had been, how did he suddenly arrive here, that too when the battle was going on in his Manor?

Pansy, who had not stopped walking as her friend had, almost reached the center of the room, when she suddenly realised that she was alone there. Frowning, she turned around and saw Theo standing at the entrace of the room. Keeping her wand at the ready, she made her way back to him and stood beside him, shaking his shoulder to bring him out of whatever trance he had been trapped in.

But the Slytherin wizard didn't even move an inch, let alone show a reaction to that.

His eyes were fixed on a specific person fighting against the Order members in the centre of the room.

The raven haired witch tried calling his name one more time, but when she got the same result, she followed his line of sight and her eyes widened when she realised whom her friend was looking at. 

What was his father doing here?

Pansy had never liked Theodore Nott Sr. He was too much of a Death Eater, according to her, even to his own son. 

How many times had she and the others seen Theo cleaning his bruises while trying to hide away from them in a corner?

Only Draco had been able to understand how his friend was feeling that time, due to him getting almost the same treatment from his father Lucius Malfoy. 

No wonder Theo and Draco had connected the first time they had met, and had been inseparable ever since. 

Pansy slid her hand into Theo's, and squeezed it, knowing how her friend must be feeling at that time. A few seconds passed, and the wizard finally showed a reaction, gulping slightly and then moving his head towards the witch's direction. 

"Pansy... I... can't."

"Oh Theo." The Slytherin witch sighed and apparated them out of there, and into a nearby empty room. She hugged him tightly, as the wizard collapsed on the floor and rested his head on her shoulder. "You have to, Theo, you have to."

"I can't." The wizard repeated. "You know I can't. Please don't make me do this, Pansy, please. I am begging you."

"Theo- no, listen to me for this once, okay?" She brought one of her hands to his cheek and made him face her. "You have to do this. You have to face him, Theo, you cannot run away from him forever. You are an Order member now, and so, you are required to fight against all the Death Eaters, and that includes your father. You cannot stop fighting now, Theo, not when it matters the most. And you do not have to fight him on your own, not at all."

"I want to fight him, you know that. I will never give up an opportunity to not make him understand and feel what he made me go through. But whenever I look at him, I get reminded of all those memories. He is the reason behind my nightmares, Pansy, how can I face him again? How can I look into those eyes, the eyes which did not even show an emotion when the Dark Lord tortured my mother mercilessly? How can I not stay away from him, Pansy?"

"That is exactly why you can't stay away from him, Theo. You have to make him suffer as much as you did, if not more." The dark haired witch whispered to him. "You have to show him that you did not turn out to be like him. You are hundred times a better wizard than he is, and now you have to prove that to him as well. Plus, this is what Draco would want you to do. He is like your brother isn't he? Would you want to disappoint him?"

Theo closed his eyes and thought of the Malfoy heir. His friend, his class mate, his fellow Slytherin, his support system. 

His brother. 

Nodding to himself, his eyes still closed, Theo slowly got up from the floor and wiped the tears that had managed to escape from his eyes away. And when he finally opened his brown eyes to look at the witch in front of him, they showed nothing but determination to finish what his father had started all those years ago. 

"Let us do this." The Nott Hair smirked at her. 

Pansy grinned and grabbed his elbow, disapparating them back to the living room where the fight was still going on, and Theodore Nott Sr. was still dueling with some Order members. The Slytherin witch dropped his arm to fight along side Terry, who was fighting with two Death Eaters at once. 

Theo rolled his shoulders once, and immediately shot a spell at his father, who was busy fighting and so, he still had not managed to notice that his son was standing a few feet away from him, supporting the side the Dark Lord was not on. 

Theodore Nott Sr. fell down on the floor on his back, and his eyes widened when he realised who had shot a spell at him. What was his son doing here?

But before he could think any more about that, Theo marched forwards, and his father shot a spell at his legs-

-Only for it to be deflected away, and hit another Death Eater. 

But it wasn't Theo who had deflected the spell away. 

It was a witch. 

A blond haired witch. 

"Luna?" The Nott Heir gasped. What was his girlfriend doing here? "Why the heck are you here? Hadn't you gone back to the Order's Headquarters with Seamus?"

"The Nargles told me that my help was required here, so I apparated back here." Luna shrugged. "And I will get healed later on. I assume my boyfriend wants me to be by his side."

Theo grinned and gave her a quick kiss, knowing it was futile to argue with the Ravenclaw witch. She could be quite stubborn when she wanted to be. 

And when he looked back at his father, as if remembering what he was supposed to do, he blinked when he saw that ropes were binding his father's arms and legs together tightly, not allowing him to move even an inch on the floor. 

But who had done that?

Theo got the answer when he looked up.

For standing behind his father, with a wand pointed at the old wizard's back, was Pansy with a smirk on her face. 

--------------

At the Manor....

Ever since they had managed to destroy the memory potion, something had changed between Hermione and Draco. The tension between them had increased as well. Even though it had only been a day.

The Malfoy Heir felt indebted to his wife for healing his wounds and coming up with a last minute plan to save them and their plan from getting destroyed by the Dark Lord. And therefore, he tried to be a little nicer towards her. 

Every now and then, he would try to continue the conversation she started, about any random thing, and he had not mentioned her private life even once, not that Draco wanted to do so anyways. 

He freaking hated Ron Weasley, really. 

And the Brightest Wizard of His Age, for the life of him, could not understand the many reasons behind that except for the obvious one, that the red haired wizard was the reason Draco had gotten insulted in front of every one on the first day of his first year at Hogwarts. 

On the other hand, the Gryffindor witch had accepted that she had grown to care for her husband, for reasons more than just him being her spy partner. She was still a little confused as to what she exactly felt towards him, but she knew that it was not just professional anymore, at least for her. 

But at the same time, Hermione understood that Draco only viewed her as his spy partner, nothing less and nothing more. He thought that she only healed and helped him out of her duty, and the Brightest Witch of Her did not want to correct him. 

After all, Draco still probably hated her. 

But also, the muggle born witch had started being a little friendly towards the blond wizard, helping him with whatever he needed as he still could not move his injured hand properly, and showing him that she was quite thankful to him, for whatever he had done, really. 

That day, Hermione had been sitting on their bed, waving her wand here and there, trying to do a specific spell when Draco exited the bathroom, and looked at her. "What are you trying to do, Granger?"

His wife got up from the bed and immediately made her way towards him, holding his shirt in his hands. He slowly raised his hands as she helped him put it on, and then buttoned the shirt, all the while avoiding his question and his eyes. 

Finally, when he was fully dressed, Hermione looked at them with her big brown eyes. "I was just thinking of using a spell, a special one at that. I have not used it in a while. And even though there is no use for it right now, I would still like to try it. It gives me peace, you know?"

"And what is this special spell, if I may ask?"

"The patronus charm, of course." She grinned at him, and walked back towards the bed, not noticing how his silvery eyes turned a shade darker upon hearing that. 

If there was any spell Draco really did not want to try in front of his wife, or even talk about it, then it had to be the Patronus charm. 

"Harry taught me and some others that spell, when we had created our group, the Dumbledore's Army, when Umbridge had come to Hogwarts. It took me a few tries, but then I managed to find a happy enough memory for that, and guess what? I can now produce a corporeal patronus. It is an otter, by the way."

The Malfoy Heir continued standing where he was, looking at his wife through his blond eye lashes. He thought she looked even more beautiful when she was smiling while talking about something that she really liked. 

But unfortunately, Draco did not want to have this conversation with her. 

Just as he had turned to leave, Hermione asked, "I never asked you this, though, what is your patronus, Draco?"

And yes, she had again started calling him Draco. But unlike last time, she had not listened to him telling her to call him Malfoy, and had stick to Draco only. 

"I don't know." Draco answered. "I will never know."

"You know, if you have not yet been able to manage a patronus, then it is fine. I can always help you-"

"I don't know because Death Eaters cannot produce a patronus, Granger!" The blond wizard snapped at her. "We have darkness inside of us, and so, we cannot do anything that represents, or stands for good and peaceful things. Got it?"

"Snape was a Death Eater too, Draco, and he could produce a patronus. His was a doe."

"Granger... Look, I am sorry, but just drop it, will you?" With that, Draco left the room. 

And Hermione, sighing, thought of another thing she wanted to do. And it was, help Draco produce a corporeal patronus, and be with him on every single step of it.

----------

Meanwhile.....

"Jjsnos- What the-"

"Get up you fool." Harry kicked Blaise's leg hard, and continued doing that until the other wizard finally woke up properly. "Godric, Zabini."

"Freaking let me sleep, Potter." Blaise groaned. "Just go and bother someone else. Maybe even your own girlfriend. Where is that witch anyways?"

"You can stop talking about my girlfriend-"

"And like hell I will take orders from you." The Italian wizard shook his head and shifted a little to go back to sleep, but that only caused him in forming a frown on his face. "The heck?"

"Finally realised it, have you?"

"Where in earth are we, stupid Pothead?" He asked, looking around the room with wide eyes. Well, there was not much to look at, anyways, there was no source of light in the room. "Answer me, Potter."

"Looks like you have forgotten everything that happened a few days back." The Chosen One rolled his eyes at him. "You do know that we are currently in Italy right now, don't you?"

Blaise stared at him, slowly tilting his head to one side, trying to remember what the Gryffindor wizard was talking about. 

Getting frustrated, Harry sighed. "Why do I have to deal with you stupid Slytherins? What did I even do to deserve this?" Shaking his head, he continued, "We had come here a few days back to find out the Death Eaters Kingsley had gotten the intel about, and in the process, we had discovered that there actually exists a person named Amelia Marie Romano and she lives here only."

"After that," The raven haired wizard sighed, "I do not really like this part, but well, we arrived near Amelia's house, and got attacked by the Death Eaters. You had a great idea, and saved both us. We also managed to defeat all those Death Eaters."

"Well, I am liking this story a lot till now." The Slytherin wizard grinned. "Go on, Potter."

"Of course you are liking this." Harry rolled his eyes at him. "But don't you worry, you don't get to be the hero for long-"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say-"

"And then," The raven haired wizard continued, ignoring his enemy's best friend, "We discovered that the presence of those Death Eaters outside Amelia's house meant that she is a witch, and also that either she is interested in the dark side and wants to be a member of Voldemort's army, or that she probably is a Death Eater already."

"Well, I like how my brain worked-"

"Our brain, Zabini. You don't get to take all the credit-"

"Whatever. What happened next?"

"That is when we decided to enter Amelia's house, and considering she had not herself come out to join the fight, nor we could feel the presence of wards surrounding her house, the wards that are only there when the person putting them up is inside the area, we concluded that Amelia was not present in her house at that moment. And well, that is where we made a mistake."

"Just because Amelia lives here, it does not mean that the wards had been put up by her. It could very well have been another Death Eater, and as that person would not have been present here that time, we did not feel the wards." Blaise nodded to himself.

"You could not have worked on this theory at that time, could you?" The Boy Who Lived hissed at him. "It would have saved us from all the trouble."

"What would you even do without me, Potter?"

"I would live a very happy life, thank you very much." Harry bit out, followed by a string of curse words as he wondered yet again what he had even done to tolerate a bunch of Slytherins in his life. "Anyways, as I said, we made a mistake and now we are paying the price for it. As soon as we entered the property, Death Eaters appeared all around, and well, guess who was standing in the center."

"Amelia Marie Romano." Blaise gasped. "That only means that-"

"She is a Death Eater, and was even wearing the robes and she had her Death Eater mask in her hand." The other wizard sighed. "As she walked towards her, everyone bowed, shouting, 'All hail the Dark Lady Amelia."

"She holds as much power here as the Dark Lord holds in our wizarding world." The Slytherin wizard nodded. "Imagine if they combined forces together. I doubt it will be that easy to stop them then."

"And unfortunately, we do not have much time." He shook his head. "We did not even get a chance to defend ourselves before we were attacked, and just before I lost consciousness, I heard her telling her followers to take us to the dungeons, and that we would not wake up for at least a few days. If the spell was used perfectly, we would even lose our memories of what all had happened, just like you did. But well, fortunately, the Death Eater who had used that spell on me did not use it perfectly, so at least we know what has happened, and we can decide what to do now. And nobody has come to check up on us as well, and I have been awake since we had gotten attacked."

"Our decision will depend on whether or not Amelia has contacted the Dark Lord already. Because, come on, who does not recognise you? The great Harry Potter, the arch nemesis of the Darkest wizard ever. She will definitely not hesitate in contacting him, and joining him as well. If she has not already done so, that is." Blaise sighed.

"I think so and- wait," Harry suddenly paused and looked around the room, focusing on one of the walls. "Do you see that?"

"All I see is darkness around me, Potter. Wow, that turned out to be a sad quote. Well anyways-"

"Oh my goodness, do learn to shut up, Zabini." He rolled his eyes, and jerked his head towards a particular point on that wall. "See that? If you focus enough, you can see a very dim beam of light coming in. I assume it to be some sort of door."

The other wizard rolled his eyes, but did focus in that direction. Sure enough, he could see that beam of light as well. "Well, so we have found the door. What do you think we should do now?"

"If there is one thing I managed to notice about Amelia, in the time we had before we were attacked, is that she doesn't use any spell. Like, just imagine this, you see two people, on the opposite side of you in the war, entering through the doors, and you know they have managed to defeat several members of the army you want to be a part of, or are a part of, just a few minutes back. You know that one of them is the Undesirable No.1-"

"Excuse me, I am the most desirable wizard on this earth, even if Witch Weekly chose Draco for that title-"

"Focus here, Zabini-"

"One second you say to focus there, and now you tell me to focus here. What is wrong with you? Why are you ordering me around? Poor me."

"As I was saying," Harry hissed at him, "I am the Undesirable No.1, and I am pretty sure Amelia knows that, considering that she really seems to be an active or wannabe follower of You Know Who. And yet, she didn't even raise her wand at me, let alone attack me. Why would she do that? Why would she trust her followers more than herself to perform a spell?"

"There are two possibilities for that." Blaise slowly nodded to himself. "First, either she is a great psychopath like the Dark Lord, wanting her servants to do everything, but I really don't think she would take a risk like that, leaving everything in the hands of those Death Eaters. The second, well, maybe she does not have any knowledge of spells. Practical knowledge, I mean."

"I think you are right." The Boy Who Lived nodded. "She only seems to enjoy her power, the authority she has over the Death Eaters. She seems frightening enough to control them properly, and make them do her work. She definitely knows the spells, the basic theory of them, I mean. But when it comes to using them? She is probably worse than a small child."

"Should we assume one more thing?" When the Gryffindor wizard told him to continue, Blaise said, "I think we can assume her to be a little stupid when it comes to recognising traps. Because, as you said, she did not bother to check on us as well. Like, if she were in her right mind, she could have at least sent her Death Eaters to do so, but she didn't. Either she is very confident about the effects of the spells, or either she is very stupid. I would go with the latter one, honestly."

"And also- Shh!" Harry hissed when they heard some sort of sound coming from the door, as if it was opening. Sure enough, the beam of light slowly became bigger and bigger until the whole door was opened, and there was enough light in the room so that the two wizards trapped there could clearly see who was standing near the door.

It was none other than the witch they had been talking about.

Amelia Marie Romano.

-------------

"Luna."

The blonde witch, who was about to follow her boyfriend to his childhood bedroom, stopped in her tracks and turned around. "Hello again."

Terry awkwardly scratched the back of his neck, and shifted from one foot to another. "Are you in a hurry or something?"

"Oh no. Pansy and Theo are actually with his father right now, in Theo's bedroom, so I was going there. But I can see some Nargles around your head right now, maybe I should help you with that."

"I think you are the only one that can help me with this." The Ravenclaw wizard sighed, and grabbed her arm gently. He led her towards an empty room, locked the door behind them, and turned towards her. "I do not know how to say this."

"The Nargles won't interrupt you, don't worry. They are very sweet creatures, actually." The blonde witch smiled at him.

She was making this way hard for him.

"I am sorry, Luna."

"I accept your apology-"

Terry smiled a little.

"But why are you apologising? Sorry for what?" She frowned.

Terry sighed at that. The witch in front of him would accept his apology even if he said that he had just murdered someone, and is about to find his next target.

"For everything. I am sorry for everything I did over the years to you." He answered. "Bullying you, tormenting you, making your life a hell, stealing your things, causing you nightmares, as I heard from some other students, and what not. I am so sorry, Luna. I know saying a simple sorry is not enough, but it is all I can do at the moment. I am not going to ask for you to forgive me-"

"You would waste time by asking, because my answer is yes." Luna shrugged.

"Yes? Does that mean you are forgiving me, just like that?" His eyes widened.

"I am not forgiving you, Terry, because I already forgave you a long time back." She shrugged. "There is no need to ask for my forgiveness again."

He was confused.

And did not know how to react to her statement.

So, he said the first thing that came to his mind. "But why?"

The Ravenclaw witch smiled in a dreamy way, and looked around his head. "It is really easy, you know? I forgave you, because I knew that you would not always be like that, you will change, for the better." She did not seem to be looking at him.

Slowly, she turned around and continued looking around the room, as if searching for some unseen creatures. "You were not the only one who did those stuff, but you are the only one who apologised. I always knew that you were not a bad person, Terry, and that is why, I forgave you a long time back."

Maybe she was really out of her mind, he thought. And then, he immediately shook his head to get rid of that idea.

"I really do not know what is going on in your mind, but Luna, you don't know how much this means to me." The wizard sighed, stepping closer to her, and placing a hand on her shoulder. "Thank you for saving my life, Luna."

"You are being very nice today." She nodded and turned her face towards him. "Maybe the Nargles are finally leaving your head."

"Well I guess, indeed they are." Terry chuckled as she smiled again at him, and opened the door with his wand. After checking that the coast was clear, they walked towards Theo's childhood bedroom, where Luna entered the room, but not before smiling again at the fellow Ravenclaw.

"Where have you been?" Theo asked once his girlfriend had entered the room, and he shut the door behind her, ensuring that the locks were in place. "You told me that you had gone to see the House Elves, but you took quite a while to come here."

"Well, I was just making the Nargles go away from someone's head." She answered. "I assume Terry will be fine now."

Theo chuckled, knowing what had happened. "So I do not need to kill him now, do I?"

"Definitely not." Luna smiled and walked forwards to stand next to him. She kissed his cheek and whispered, "No killing anyone."

"Are you two lovebirds done?"

Theo, who had just been about to give his witch a quick kiss, frowned and turned his face towards Pansy. "Can't you let us have a sweet and tender movement for once, Pans?"

"You can have infinite such movements after the war has ended and you have propo-"

"Pansy!" The Nott Heir glared at her.

"Fine, whatever." The Slytherin witch rolled her eyes and walked forwards until she reached the door. "Have a moment after you are done here." With that, she opened the door to leave.

"You do not want to be here? The answers will be revealed, finally that is." Theo asked.

His friend shook her head. "You should be with your girlfriend here, Theo, and I will make sure that there are no Death Eaters left here, and also, I will arrange for a Healer for Luna."

The couple thanked the witch as she left and then turned towards the wizard sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall.

"Father."

"Theodore."

"It is Theo." The Nott Heir crossed his arms in front of him. "And before you say anything on that, my name is Theo now."

"You have always been Theodore-"

"I have not been Theodore ever since you abandoned us!" The brown haired wizard shouted. He took several steps forwards, not stopping until he stood directly in front of his father. "I have not been Theodore ever since you killed my mother!"

"Theodore-"

"NO!"

"Theo." Luna placed a hand on his shoulder. Squeezing his shoulder, she said, "Do not let the anger get over your mind, the Nargles will not hesitate in taking advantage of that."

Theo nodded. "You are right. But unfortunately for you, Father, I will not stop until I get my answers."

Theodore Nott Sr gulped and slid closer towards the wall.

---------------

"Granger."

No answer.

"Granger."

Still, there was no answer.

And so, Draco thought of trying a new tactic. After all, he was not going to give up.

"There is a cockroach on your shoulder, Granger."

"Ahhhhhh- get it off! Get it off, Draco!" Hermione screamed, turning around and burying her face in his chest, her eyes closed and arms wrapped around his waist. "Get it off, please."

Though all the blonde wizard wanted to do at that moment was wrap his arms around her and stay there with her only, he reluctantly placed his hands on her shoulders, and pushed her away gently.

"There is no cockroach, Granger. You really think such disgusting things will be allowed into the Malfoy Manor? I hate them so much, and so do my parents, but well, my mother is actually scared of them as well. Just like you are." 

The Brightest Witch of Her Age slowly opened her eyes and frowned at him, realising what he had just said was true, the first part at least. 

And then she understood what he had just done.

"You. Bloody. Idiot. Draco. Lucius. Malfoy." She hissed, and accompanied each word with a tight punch to either his chest, or his arm. "I will kill you right now-"

"You cannot just kill the love of your life, Granger-"

"Of course, but I can very well kill a stupid blonde ferret who is standing right in front of me right now." She shoved him away. "Really, I should tell Narcissa about this and then watch her scold you and pull your ear-"

Just then they heard a sound coming from outside their room. "Damn it!"

Hermione and Draco's eyes widened, and together, they tiptoed towards the door of the office they had been, which belonged to Lucius, and tried to listen to what was going on outside. Unfortunately, they could not hear anything else, and after a moment, they heard footsteps going away from them. 

Frowning, they opened the door and looked towards the end of the corridor just in time to see the Dark Lord going there. 

"Seems like he was in a bad mood, as usual." The blond wizard remarked. "Let us go back to the office, we need to look at the files-"

"Draco." Hermione stopped him just before he could walk inside the office. The Brightest Witch of Her Age bent down to pick something off the floor, a crumpled piece of paper, and opened it. "Do you know who's handwriting it is? I do not recognise the things written on it, but it looks like some kind of important paper."

He took the paper from her and carefully looked at everything written on it. "It is the Dark Lord's handwriting."

A/N: That's it for this chapter. It was 5000+ words. Hope you guys liked it. Luna and Terry had a sweet moment, and also, Harry and Blaise managed to work out a few theories. Random question: Favorite Ravenclaw? Answer in the comments below. Vote, comment and pleasure share my story. Reviews are always appreciated. Thank you!

Next chapter on 26/10/21(Tuesday). 

Until next time.